Asian Heritage Month 2021

“The National Union of Public and General Employees proudly celebrates Asian Heritage Month. Asian Canadians and Asian people living in Canada have faced an increase in attacks on their community since the beginning of the pandemic. Hatred is not acceptable.” — Larry Brown, NUPGE President

Ottawa (06 May 2021) — This Asian Heritage Month, the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is standing in solidarity with Asian workers and Asian people living in Canada by calling for an end to anti-Asian racism.

The COVID-19 pandemic has intensified historical xenophobic, anti-Asian sentiment and rhetoric, which have resulted in increased violence against members of Asian communities. Live data from Fight COVID Racism shows that from March 10, 2020, to mid-April, 2021, there were 994 reported incidents of anti-Asian hate crimes across Canada. Global News reported that “statistics from the Vancouver Police Department show a 717 per-cent rise in hate crimes against East Asians from 2019 to 2020.”

“The National Union of Public and General Employees proudly celebrates Asian Heritage Month,” said Larry Brown, President of NUPGE. “Asian Canadians and Asian people living in Canada have faced an increase in attacks on their community since the beginning of the pandemic. Hatred is not acceptable.”

“We must all play a part in eliminating the hate,” said Bert Blundon, NUPGE Secretary-Treasurer. “It sometimes means having hard conversations with our friends and family members, but we can’t afford to stay silent in the face of discrimination.”

Join the E Rally on Zoom

NUPGE recently endorsed the Stand With Asians Coalition (SWAC) proposition that May 10 become the National Day of Action Against Anti-Asian Racism. You can read a copy of the endorsement here.

On May 10, SWAC will be hosting an E Rally on Zoom for the National Day of Action Against Anti-Asian Racism. The event runs from 8–9 pm EDT. NUPGE encourages members to participate and share the sign-up link with their friends and family. You can sign up for the virtual event via their Google form.

Celebrating Asian people in Canada

As part of the Asian Heritage Month celebrations, NUPGE is highlighting a handful of Asian Canadians and Asians living in Canada. These folks have enriched their communities and Canadian society with their contributions:

Hiromi Goto is a queer Japanese Canadian writer, editor, and facilitator of creative writing workshops. Goto’s works have won several awards, including the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize Best First Book, Canada and Caribbean Region, and the Canada-Japan Book Award.

Dora Ng is a non-binary writer and activist who tells genderqueer Chinese-Canadian stories. Their writing has been featured in The Tyee, the Toronto Star, and Xtra Magazine.

Payam Akhavan: Educated at York University and Harvard University, Dr. Akhavan is a human rights scholar who, at age 26, became the youngest prosecutor of war crimes in the history of the United Nations. He has also has been appointed as legal counsel in leading cases before the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court, and the European Court of Human Rights.

Conrad Santos: Educated at Harvard University and the University of Michigan, Santos became the first Canadian of Filipino origin to be elected to office in Canada when he won a seat in the Manitoba Assembly for the New Democratic Party.

Lilly Singh is a YouTuber, author, talk show host, and producer. She became the first person of Indian descent to host a late-night talk show, A Little Late with Lilly Singh, on a major American network. Her book How to Be a Bawse: A Guide to Conquering Life reached number one on the New York Times best-seller list.

Gretta Wong Grant graduated from the University of Western Ontario and Osgoode Hall Law School, becoming the first woman of Chinese descent to become a lawyer in Canada. She later worked for Ontario Legal Aid Plan and pushed to make legal aid more accessible.

Anti-Asian racism not new to Canada

Canada’s unions are marking Asian Heritage Month by honouring the historical struggles of people of Asian descent in Canada and the community activism that challenged this country’s racist and discriminatory laws, practices and policies.

An article on The Conversation written by a group of Asian scholars rightfully points out that “anti-Asian racism has been present in Canada for centuries. It is deeply rooted in the historical formation of Canada through the Chinese head tax, Japanese internment camps, and the Electoral Franchise Act, which explicitly denied Chinese Canadians the right to vote, and more.”

Asian communities helped build this country, yet they have faced exploitation, discrimination and racism, both in their workplaces and broader society. From the internment and property seizure of Japanese Canadians, to Chinese migrant workers who were first brought to Canada to build the Canadian Pacific Railway, to the Vancouver anti-Asian riots in the early 1900s, to the Continuous Journey Regulation and the Komagata Maru incident, the history of Asian communities in Canada includes experiences of significant adversity, as well as hard-won triumphs.

Members of Asian communities overcame these struggles by coming together and organizing in order to successfully challenge racist and discriminatory immigration laws and practices. Today, Asian community members continue to contribute greatly to the economy and to Canadian society, and provide a rich diversity of heritage, culture and perspectives across all sectors and industries.

Pandemic hurting Asians in Canada on multiple levels

In addition to a rise in anti-Asian sentiment, the pandemic has also increased the exploitation of workers in Canada, including migrant workers — many of whom are South Asian and South-East Asian women.

Throughout the pandemic, essential and migrant workers have made critical contributions to the well-being and safety of our communities. However, many have been working in dangerous conditions and without adequate protections, leaving them vulnerable and dependent on employers.

Governments must do better at protecting essential workers, providing funds to communities in need, and spreading messages against anti-Asian racism, including material that clears up misinformation based in racist stereotypes.